Texas A&M University 2017 Imperial Barrel Award team wins third place at the Gulf Coast Regional IBA Competition

Texas A&M University 2017 Imperial Barrel Award team wins third place at the Gulf Coast Regional IBA Competition

Apr 10, 2017

Congratulations to the Texas A&M University Imperial Barrel Award (IBA) team for winning third place in the Gulf Coast Section of the IBA Competition!

The Texas A&M University IBA team won third place at the 2017 Gulf Coast Regional Imperial Barrel Award Competition sponsored by the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG). The students competed March 17, 2017 against 10 other universities from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The competition was held at the Anadarko headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas where the team presented a detailed petroleum systems analysis of the offshore Northern Carnarvon Basin in Northwest Australia.

This year’s IBA team included geology master’s students Cristina Figueroa, Vicky Gao, and Telemachos Manos, geophysics master student April Rider, and geology doctoral degree student James Teoh. This is the first IBA team in the department’s history to have a female-dominated team, with 3 of the 5 team members being female.

The team’s faculty advisor was Dr. Juan Carlos Laya, an assistant professor in the Department of Geology & Geophysics. The team was mentored by two alumni petroleum geologists, Vernon Moore (Marathon Oil) and Tim Powell (independent).

The annual Imperial Barrel Award (IBA) Competition consists of five graduate students specializing in either geology or geophysics. These teams have eight weeks prior to the competition to analyze a basin dataset and come up with potential prospects. Students complete a technical assessment of the basin’s petroleum potential and then recommend a “drill” or “no drill” plan for future exploration. This petroleum system analysis of the basin is given in a 25-minute presentation to a panel of industry experts. The graduate students participating in IBA gain experience using real technology on a real dataset and benefit from the feedback provided during the competition.

Congratulations to the 2017 Texas A&M University IBA team for bringing home a third place trophy and $250 check!